How the 40 year drop in the minimum wage helped cause obesity

[sabelmouse]

I have written about the link between wages and obesity before—with wages dropping since the 60s and healthy food prices always going up, people eat more unhealthy food. But now two economists have drilled down into these issues and claim to have found a specific link between a drop in the minimum wage and obesity:

Growing consumption of increasingly less expensive food, and especially “fast food”, has been cited as a potential cause of increasing rate of obesity in the United States over the past several decades. Because the real minimum wage in the United States has declined by as much as half over 1968-2007 and because minimum wage labor is a major contributor to the cost of food away from home we hypothesized that changes in the minimum wage would be associated with changes in bodyweight over this period. To examine this, we use data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System from 1984-2006 to test whether variation in the real minimum wage was associated with changes in body mass index (BMI). We also examine whether this association varied by gender, education, and income, and used quantile regression to test whether the association varied over the BMI distribution. We also estimate the fraction of the increase in BMI since 1970 attributable to minimum wage declines. We find that a $1 decrease in the real minimum wage was associated with a 0.06 increase in BMI. This relationship was significant across gender and income groups and largest among the highest percentiles of the BMI distribution. Real minimum wage decreases can explain 10 percent of the change in BMI since 1970.

Hamburger.Photo courtesy Vanessa Pike-Russell via Flickr Fast food companies have a long history of fighting things like unionization drives and minimum wage increases—indeed, they are often leading the charge. It’s clearly been good for their bottom lines and now this study shows how it’s been bad for our waistlines. The study authors focused on food eaten outside the home since labor costs are a significant component of total costs for fast food (unlike for processed foods) and such food has been a significant source of additional calories in our diets.

Anyway, one interesting component of the study was that the BMI effect regarding the minimum wage were more pronounced among high income earners rather than among low income earners. The study’s authors speculate that this is because low income earners don’t eat nearly as much food outside the home. The authors also found something interesting in that regard:

[E]ven though lower income persons are more likely than higher income persons to be obese, obesity has increased most among higher income persons in recent years, as might be expected if changes in the price of food away from home were driving increases in obesity.

In other words, the more you make, the more calories you’re getting from fast food, which has in turn gotten cheaper thanks to a falling real minimum wage which has thus caused you to eat even more fast food. Your vicious circle is McDonald’s virtuous one.

Keep in mind, the minimum wage effect is relatively small, only 10 percent of the overall increase in obesity since 1970. Unfortunately, the authors also point out that simply raising the minimum wage can’t necessarily be considered an obesity “cure” since other productivity improvements among fast food companies, especially in recent years, may dilute the minimum wage’s impact going forward.

Still, it’s worth marveling at the fact that the minimum wage was—measured in 2007 dollars—$9.15 in 1968 and dropped to around $5.80 in 2007, so perhaps a few more raises are in order. If you’re wondering why a living wage went the way of the Princess Phone, just ask McDonald’s.

http://www.grist.org/article/how-the-40-year-drop-in-the-minimum-wa...

[Decepticon]

What he's trying to say is real simple.

Corporations/the rich steal money from workers by not paying them their true worth. Therefore taking money from corporations/the rich and giving it back to their workers isn't theft.

The same way that if I were to break into your house and take your TV it wouldn't be stealing for you to come to my house and take your TV back. It's simply putting property back where it belongs.

Whether or not I agree with him is another story, but neither one of you are exactly A+ speakers here, and watching you two argue with you being unable to understand a word of what Danman's saying and him being unable to word it in a way that isn't ridiculous is frustrating in the same way as watching a retarded first grader trying to read War and Peace.

I'm doing it for him so I can stop watching the stupid.

[Ultimate Schnitzel]

We must help. Someone, somewhere, is forcing Decepticon to come repeated back to this thread and read our posts.

[William Jennes]

It kind of derailed from the minimum wage discussion, but I think he's trying to talk about unfair treatment of minimum wage workers by people who know that they don't have anywhere else to go?

Pizza delivery, I will use as an example. Pizza delivery is normally okay money while you're still trying to get your degree or whatever. However, let us say your restaurant has contracts with local schools to provide pizzas every day for lunch, and those deliveries, unlike regular ones, do not specifically reimburse you for gas. So, even though you get paid a few dollars more per hour, you also go through like $7 or more worth of fuel, effectively slicing almost an hour off of what you worked. The worker keeps doing it because they can't afford not to.

I would not be surprised if that type of thing happens in almost every minimum wage field.

[Ultimate Schnitzel]

@ William Jennes

All that is true, and it's fueled by greed; unless someone plans on somehow abolishing that universal human trait, raising the minimum wage won't do anything. There will always be another way to exploit the trapped and desperate, all it takes is a little creativity. Which brings me back to my original point.

[danman]

Why should the interest of your family (few ) be more important than the interest of workers and their families (many)?

[sabelmouse]

well, i supose that they are struggling too. small businesses often do. it's walmart et all they should be mad at not workers struggling to make ends meet.

and a government that allows such practices and taxes poor people more than rich.

[amtar]

Exactly.

[Kenny]

I'm with the Schnitz on this one. Am I the only person who finds it tremendously fucked up that small businesses are expected to pay their employees the same as billion-dollar businesses like Wal-Mart?

[Decepticon]

Yes.

Employees working for 'ma and pa' stores still have to eat the same as employees for Walmart or McDonald's. Further, I've worked for smaller businesses--they tend to be run by greedy assholes the same as the larger ones, and the 'law' has a bad habit of being more lenient toward them when it comes to... well everything... out of some misplaced sense of loyalty to local business. Never mind they fuck their employees harder than Walmart.

[JennaHemmena]

My family owns a small business too, and we grow food and sell it to stores as well as the general public at a small fruit stand. We also go to a local Farmers Market and sell goods there, we recieve quite a few WIC (Women, Infant, Children) Farmers Market coupons which basically gives low income families the opportunity to come and buy nutritous produce that has been grown locally. We are very aware of how people are making bad choices and sacrificing their health to whatever it is they can stick in their mouths the cheapest and the fastest and it's really sad because, for example, where I live there are several orchards and places where a kid could pick up an apple or a pint of berries, but of course they'd much prefer going to McDonalds or Dunkin' Donuts.
As for wages, well, you have to look at things from everyones point of view.

[sabelmouse]

this is great. i had read that food vouchers in the us often only cover brandfoods in tins and packedges.

people are out of practice with real food. they often don't know what it is, where it comes from or what to do with fresh produce.

[JennaHemmena]

This is very true, its amazing what people don't know about fresh fruit and veggies. I have had people come to me not knowing what a gooseberry is, or even not ever having tried a yellow plum, tons of people don't know how to cook squash... It amazes me! I am so happy that people can use these coupons, I'm so happy that I can teach them! Another thing I see a lot is people (mostly adults actually) saying that they don't want to try something because they don't like it. When I finally convince them to try it, 8 out of 10 times they are suprised to find that they love what it is they just tried. And I think that the reason they didn't like it before is because they had never had it fresh before. What we bring to the Market is always picked the day before, it is always the best we can provide and it is a damn sight more tasty than anything you'll find in the grocery.